Editing Claudius (section)

===Agrippina the Younger===
Claudius married once more. Ancient sources tell that his freedmen put forward three candidates, Caligula's third wife [[Lollia Paulina]], Claudius's divorced second wife [[Aelia Paetina]] and Claudius's niece [[Agrippina the Younger]]. According to Suetonius, Agrippina won out through her feminine wiles. She gradually seized power from Claudius and successfully conspired to eliminate his son's rivals, opening the way for her son to become emperor.{{sfn|Suetonius|loc=Claudius 26}}
[[File:Nerón y Agripina.jpg|thumb|upright|Sculpture of Agrippina crowning her young son Nero (c. AD&nbsp;54–59)]]

The truth is probably more political. The attempted [[coup d'état]] by Silius and Messalina probably made Claudius realize the weakness of his position as a member of the Claudian (but not the Julian) family. This weakness was compounded by the fact that he did not yet have an obvious adult heir, Britannicus being just a boy. Agrippina was one of the few remaining descendants of Augustus, and her son [[Nero|Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus]] (the future [[Nero]]) was one of the last males of the Imperial family. Coup attempts might rally around the pair and Agrippina was already showing such ambition. It has been suggested that the Senate may have pushed for the marriage, an attempt to end the feud between the Julian and Claudian branches.<ref>{{harvnb|Scramuzza|1940|pp=91–92}}. See also {{harvnb|Tacitus|loc=XII 6, 7}} and {{harvnb|Suetonius|loc=Claudius 26}}</ref> This feud dated back to Agrippina's [[Agrippina the Elder|mother's]] actions against Tiberius after the death of her husband [[Germanicus]] (Claudius's brother), actions that Tiberius had punished.

Another reason was to bring in Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus as a candidate for the succession. His prestige as the descendent of Augustus and Germanicus made him popular, and marking him as an heir would have helped the survival of Claudius' regime.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Barrett|first=Anthony|title=Agrippina: Mother of Nero |date=2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-61863-7|pages=109–111}}</ref> In any case, Claudius accepted Agrippina and later adopted the mature Ahenobarbus as his son, renaming him as 'Nero Claudius Caesar'.

Nero was married to Claudius's daughter Octavia, made joint heir with the underage [[Britannicus]], and promoted; Augustus had similarly named his grandson [[Postumus Agrippa]] and his stepson [[Tiberius]] as joint heirs,<ref>{{harvnb|Levick|2015|pp=80–81}}. See also {{harvnb|Scramuzza|1940|p=92}}</ref> and Tiberius had named Caligula as his joint heir with his grandson [[Tiberius Gemellus]]. [[Adoption in ancient Rome|Adoption]] of adults or near adults was an old tradition in Rome when a suitable natural adult heir was unavailable, as was the case during Britannicus's minority. Claudius may have previously looked to adopt one of his sons-in-law to protect his own reign.{{sfn|Oost|1958}}

[[Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix]], who was married to Claudius's daughter [[Claudia Antonia]], was only descended from Octavia and Antony on one side&nbsp;– not close enough to the Imperial family to ensure his right to be Emperor (although that did not stop others from making him the object of a coup attempt against Nero a few years later), besides being the half-brother of [[Valeria Messalina]], which told against him. Nero was more popular with the general public as both the grandson of Germanicus and the direct descendant of Augustus.